About the Haunted London Blog Tour: The Haunted tour has become tradition to celebrate release week of my Strangely Beautiful series of Gothic Victorian Fantasy novels. Here I introduce the real, documented London haunts who “ghost-star” in the latest book. Special thanks, as always, to Richard Jones, www.haunted-london.com, for being my foremost ghostly resource! About this prequel novel: The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess features a young Beatrice Smith grappling with her duties as leader of The Guard of spectral police, while a faltering Goddess of beauty and light sacrifices all for a snow-white child of destiny to be born into the gilded Victorian Age. For all involved in the making of delicate Prophecy, the answers to divine questions lie in passionate, imperfect mortal hearts. -- I write Gothic novels, so prepare a capital D for Drama, set your sights on ghosts and myth, prophecies and fraught perils, all manner of intense characters, and come along for the ride!
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About today’s ghost: My favourite thing about creating a series is the fact that the world-building never stops growing. Characters that seemed incidental at first have the opportunity to return. I made up a ghost who had traveled from a long distance to offer Alexi and his Guard a warning in the first Strangely Beautiful novel. So it made sense to introduce the same ghost but from the first encounter; this time in its native land. So rather than give you its invented ‘backstory’ – I’ll let it ‘speak’ for itself.
From The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess:
They followed their Intuition past a bustling market square teeming with people, glittering with wares and fabrics, reeking of scents, and at last they found a young man floating in an alley. A boy entirely supine but airborne. He was luminous.-- (End of Excerpt)
Belle shrieked. Beatrice moved in front of her, placing herself in the spectre’s line of sight, and she was the first to enter the alley. It wasn’t that she wanted to see this abomination any more than Belle, but her instinct told her that this was her proving ground and she must rise to its challenge.
Ahmed held out his hand to Belle, a gesture not to worry, and he smiled. The French girl’s shoulders immediately eased, as did everyone else’s. Ahmed’s joy was potent magic.
“You each have a gift,” Beatrice instructed, using the sort of voice that made people turn and listen. Surprising her, they did. “And we each have an instinct. Use it. Now.”
She whirled toward the floating boy and flung out her hands. In them, phoenix fire was instantly ready and eager to be wielded. It flowed from her hands, seemingly knowing what to do. The flame enveloped the youngster’s hovering form like a bubble of water, and the boy’s possessor became visible.
Ibrahim reached into the new and vast library of his mind. He chose scripture from the Quran and spoke it bravely, directing his words at the demon above. Clearly, the boy’s inhabitant was displeased. The offending spirit strained and thrashed inside the youth’s skin, tearing at the dusty linen of his long tunic and frayed vest, turning the boy’s honey brown skin a pallid grey, threatening to transform him into a ghost before their very eyes.
Verena gasped. From the look on her face, the entwined beings clearly horrified her, yet the living victim’s obvious pain drew her forward and she reached out to touch him. His racked body went limp when she did. Her hand was soft light, and its application was mercy.
George reacted next. Taking charcoal from his pocket, in a few swift strokes he etched the outline of a great dove. Beatrice squinted before realizing his intent. The dove was not only a picture but script, the body of the bird curved down and continued into Arabic script that read Peace.
“Now that is brilliant,” Ahmed breathed. George beamed, his fair skin pinking, his cheeks dimpled, making him somewhat the cherub.
None of them knew precisely what they were doing. Nonetheless, instinct proved true, and Beatrice was proud in a way she had never felt: of herself, and of these strangers who were suddenly family.
The possessed boy’s gaze snapped to the dove, to Peace, and the sight kept his eyes from rolling and his mouth from foaming. She could tell they were making progress. As well, Beatrice noticed that if she moved her hands closer together, her binding blue fire constricted the creature within him. The spirit hated its shackles.
Belle came close and touched the boy’s ankle, but she hissed in pain at what she felt. Her touch was giving her insight that was clearly unpleasant. Ahmed was swift at her side, bestowing joy. He reminded them each to breathe deep, and he demonstrated, giving a soft laugh to buffer their hearts. A possession infected the air and the mind with heavy negativity.
“What did you learn, Belle?” Beatrice asked.
“It cried out from the towers and saw dumb sheep below. A muezzin, he was. But at some point he turned and sang for evil. Sang not to lure men to prayer but to depravity. Humanity, dumb sheep… He wanted to scare them, to turn them all. It wants. It hungers for so much more than this life can give…” She shuddered, and Ahmed’s attention was again needed.
“He sang from the towers calling others to prayer,” Ibrahim murmured. “And yet the creature never learned how to pray for himself. Clearly. How sad.”
Leave a comment for your chance to win either a download code or a print copy of one Strangely Beautiful book from the series (winner’s preference)! Follow along the rest of the tour for more ghost stories and chances to win! Tour schedule available via the Haunted London Tour page of my website: http://leannareneehieber.com where you can also find the archives from Haunted Tours past! I also hope you’ll join me for the launch of my new MAGIC MOST FOUL saga of Gothic Victorian Paranormal novels set in 1880s NYC with Sourcebooks Fire. DARKER STILL (Magic Most Foul #1) hits the shelves 11/11!
Happy Haunting!
Leanna Renee Hieber
Twitter: http://twitter.com/leannarenee
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Blog: http://leannareneebooks.blogspot.com
Entry deadline: Wednesday. May 11, 2011 at 11:59pm EST
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